Cooperative Agreement 70NANB25H173

PURPOSE: THE PURPOSE OF THIS WORK IS TO SUPPORT MISSION-CRITICAL RESEARCH TO ADDRESS THE INTEGRATION CHALLENGES OF MILLIMETER-WAVE (MM-WAVE) AND TERAHERTZ CIRCUITS WITHIN CRYOGENIC QUANTUM COMPUTING ENVIRONMENTS. AS QUANTUM PROCESSORS SCALE, THE NEED FOR ULTRA-HIGH-SPEED, LOW-THERMAL-LOAD SIGNAL LINKS BECOMES INCREASINGLY URGENT. HOWEVER, CURRENT PACKAGING AND INTERCONNECT SOLUTIONS ARE INADEQUATE FOR RELIABLE, HIGH-FREQUENCY OPERATION AT CRYOGENIC TEMPERATURES. THIS PROJECT WILL DEVELOP CRYO-COMPATIBLE MM-WAVE/TERAHERTZ CIRCUIT PLATFORMS AND PACKAGING STRATEGIES THAT CO-OPTIMIZE SIGNAL INTEGRITY, THERMAL EFFICIENCY, AND MECHANICAL ROBUSTNESS. THE EXPECTED OUTCOME IS A VALIDATED SET OF DESIGN GUIDELINES AND DEMONSTRATOR HARDWARE THAT ENABLES SCALABLE, HIGH-PERFORMANCE CRYOGENIC INTERCONNECTS FOR NEXT-GENERATION QUANTUM COMPUTING SYSTEMS. ACTIVITIES TO BE PERFORMED: THE PROJECT WILL INVOLVE DEFINING DETAILED MECHANICAL, THERMAL, AND ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECIFICATIONS TO SUPPORT MM-WAVE AND TERAHERTZ OPERATION IN CRYOGENIC ENVIRONMENTS. A COMPATIBLE TEST PLATFORM WILL BE DESIGNED THROUGH FINITE-ELEMENT AND FULL-WAVE SIMULATIONS, FOLLOWED BY PROTOTYPE FABRICATION USING EXTERNAL VENDORS FOR PCB MANUFACTURING, LAMINATE STRUCTURES, AND CHIP ASSEMBLY. ONCE ASSEMBLED, THE SYSTEM WILL UNDERGO ROOM-TEMPERATURE VALIDATION AND CRYOGENIC TESTING IN A DILUTION REFRIGERATOR TO EVALUATE PERFORMANCE METRICS SUCH AS SIGNAL INTEGRITY, THERMAL STABILITY, AND MECHANICAL RELIABILITY. EXPECTED OUTCOMES: THE EXPECTED OUTCOME IS A VALIDATED SET OF DESIGN GUIDELINES AND DEMONSTRATOR HARDWARE THAT ENABLES SCALABLE, HIGH-PERFORMANCE CRYOGENIC INTERCONNECTS FOR NEXT-GENERATION QUANTUM COMPUTING SYSTEMS. ALL RESULTS, INCLUDING MECHANICAL DRAWINGS, TEST DATA, AND DESIGN FILES, WILL BE COMPILED INTO A COMPREHENSIVE REPORT DETAILING FINDINGS, CHALLENGES ENCOUNTERED, AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE IMPROVEMENTS.INTENDED BENEFICIARIES: THE INTENDED BENEFICIARIES OF THIS PROJECT INCLUDE QUANTUM COMPUTING RESEARCHERS, DEVICE AND CIRCUIT DESIGNERS, AND CRYOGENIC TEST LABORATORIES WHO REQUIRE RELIABLE, HIGH-FREQUENCY INTERCONNECT AND PACKAGING SOLUTIONS FOR OPERATION AT CRYOGENIC TEMPERATURES. BY ADDRESSING KEY CHALLENGES IN THERMAL MANAGEMENT, SIGNAL INTEGRITY, AND MECHANICAL RELIABILITY, THE PROJECT WILL PROVIDE VALIDATED DESIGN STRATEGIES AND HARDWARE PLATFORMS THAT SUPPORT THE INTEGRATION AND TESTING OF MM-WAVE AND TERAHERTZ CIRCUITS IN QUANTUM SYSTEMS. THESE OUTCOMES WILL BENEFIT BOTH GOVERNMENT AND INDUSTRY STAKEHOLDERS WORKING TO SCALE QUANTUM TECHNOLOGIES, WHILE ALSO ADVANCING THE BROADER FIELD OF LOW-TEMPERATURE ELECTRONICS AND HIGH-PERFORMANCE COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS.SUBRECIPIENT ACTIVITIES: THE RECIPIENT DOES NOT INTEND TO SUBAWARD FUNDS.